K-12 Education reform: More options and alternativesParents and students deserve a full range of choices when it comes to picking a schoolAs a state, California is failing its young people when it comes to education. Our fourth graders are ranked 47th in the nation in both reading and math. Eighth graders rank 45th in math and 42nd in reading. ReportAnything short of a first class education potentially limits the quality of life a Californian can enjoy well into the future. Nothing can help a person rise from the bottom of the economic ladder and into the middle class or higher like the combination of a good education combined with economic opportunity.Parents should be concerned about California schools today. We can see the problem in high dropout rates (particularly among Latino and African-American students), in the number of students who graduate but must take remedial courses in college, and students graduating without the skills necessary to effectively compete in the workforce.As a school board trustee, Ron Nehring witnessed first hand the harmful effects of California's maze of education regulations, sharply limited choices for students, and inadequate accountability. To give our students every advantage in the job market or when pursuing higher education, bold reform of primary education in California is an imperative.Too often, proposed reforms are too timid and are projected to take years to have a real impact -- if ever. Yet, we can't afford to wait. For a seventh grader, any reforms that don't have a real impact within five years will have no benefit to that student at all: he or she will have already moved on. Reforms must be real, and provide genuine opportunities to benefit today's students.Parents and taxpayers interested in holding government accountable for inadequate education are met with a harsh reality: responsibility for our schools has been spread out of so many local, state and federal agencies that it has become nearly impossible to hold anyone accountable. Additionally, in our public schools we are living with the consequences of a system that often doesn't allow for effective evaluation of our teachers. A quality education depends on a strong teacher in the classroom, yet seniority and tenure have displaced effective tools for evaluating whether a teacher is performing well, and there is often a lack of incentives for weak teachers to improve. Ron Nehring supports reforms of California's primary education system based on following sound principles.

California's teacher tenure laws, which have recently been found unconstitutional, should be reformed to ensure we have good teachers in every classroom. See Ron's op-ed on this important subject in the San Bernardino Sun: A landmark ruling for school reform

Parents and students should have a wider range of options when it comes to choosing a school, especially when the school a student currently attends is failing.

Well-run charter schools, whether they are publicly or privately run, should be protected from unnecessary interference.

Greater autonomy and responsibility should be shifted to locally elected school boards that are closer to the communities they serve.

Laws like SB 1419 forcing schools and districts to spend money irrationally by limiting a school's ability to reduce costs for non-instructional services through competition should be repealed.

The "Parent Trigger" law should be preserved because it provides parents with a powerful tool to force a failing school to reform. Under California's "Parent trigger" law, when 51% of the parents of children attending a failing school sign a petition, it forces the school to change the way it is managed.

We need good systems for determining which teachers are strong, and which need to focus on improving their skills.

New legislation is urgently needed to speed the process of dismissing a bad teacher when the trust of his or her position has been violated, such as in the tragic case at Miramonte Elementary school in Los Angeles.